The Powdery facet

In order to understand what a facet is, it is important to know that a perfume has an architecture, it is built around several components (between 5 and 10). These different scents interact with each other to form an accord, as in music. The main accord, also known as the main theme of a perfume, will give the fragrance its full dimension and define its olfactory family. Perfumes are classified (according to the CFP - Comité Français du Parfum) into six distinct olfactory families: 

In addition, the main accord may be dressed in olfactory facets. The more facets there are, the more complex the perfume will be. The powdery facet is one of the olfactory facets used to dress a perfume.

 

What is a powdery facet?

The name "powdery" comes from the first rice powders that were once scented with iris. The powdery facet, like a dry note, is quite nasal and slightly woody, with accents of violet. It is often compared to pastel tones and has very evanescent notes. 

The iris is considered to be the goddess of powdery notes. Its scent is mysterious and airy, rather difficult to grasp. Iris flowers indeed exhale delicious perfumes, some of them even have a chocolate note.

Moreover, the powdery facets can evoke feminine boudoirs: they are mostly present in eaux de toilette and eaux de parfum for women. They are sometimes present in fragrances for men, but mainly in confidential perfumery.

The powdery facet should not be confused with the vanilla facet, which is very tasteful. 

 

 

The powdery iris notes in perfumery

  • The Pallida iris 

The Pallida iris, or Iris of Florence, is native to Italy. It is one of the most expensive raw materials in perfumery. 

However, it is not the flower itself, but its root, the rhizome, is used in perfumery. The rhizomes are taken from 3 to 6 year old plants, cleaned and then dried. At this stage, the plants are still odourless, and will have to be stored in bags for three years until they are completely dry to become fragrant. Then the rhizomes are reduced to fine particles and treated by distillation to obtain a paste called "iris butter", which is macerated in an organic solvent and extracted to produce iris absolute.

The elegance of the Florentine iris is superior in quality to all other varieties. Its scent has many facets: notes that oscillate between violet and mimosa, woody accents, and a slight hint of raspberry and carrot. Very often, in order to replace or support the iris effect in a perfume, carrot seed essence is added.

The iris is grown in Italy on steep, rocky and poorly exposed land, that eliminates the possibility of crop mechanisation. Planting takes place from mid-September to mid-October and the harvest takes place in the third year after planting, between mid-July and mid-August.

  • The Germanica iris 

The Germanica iris is of a less precious quality, and rougher than the Florence iris. In Morocco, the Germanica variety is simpler to grow because the plants are more robust than the Florence iris. The rhizomes are uprooted and removed from the soil to be treated in two ways:

  1. Peeled rhizomes: they are peeled by hand and then washed. This stage is long and tedious (one person can process up to 40 kg of rhizomes per day).
  2. Unshelled rhizomes: they are cut into slices, then dried for 10 days and stored in sheds under precise conditions of aeration and humidity for three years. 

Rhizomes ideally require six years of treatment before they reach their optimum quality. The irone develops during air drying, it is the noblest and most precious part of the iris.

There is a third variety of iris: the Pallida iris from China.

These three qualities of iris are very different: the Iris Pallida from Italy is the noblest and most subtle, but it is also the most expensive of the varieties. The iris Germanica from Morocco is of a lower quality because the rhizomes take only two to three years to dry (sometimes even less) and the iris content is lower. Finally, the iris Pallida from China is of inferior quality to that from Italy, because the rhizomes are pulled up more quickly. Some suppliers also produce Italian and Chinese Pallida iris communelles.

Powdery perfumes with iris

Here are a few fragrances that feature the iris in their composition:

 

Mimosa in the powdery facet

Mimosa is a flower that is difficult to work with in perfumery, as mimosa absolute has a scent quite different from the fluffy flowers.

In 1770, Captain Cook was conquered by the smell of these little yellow flowers and brought the bush from Australia. Fossilised traces prove that it has been already growing in this country for 250 million years. It is believed that the mimosa shrubs were brought from Mexico by Napoleon III's troops. The first mimosa shrubs blossomed in Josephine de Boarne gardens.

This flower very quickly seduced the aristocratic salons of Great Britain and France. Empress Josephine had also tried to plant mimosas in the greenhouses of La Malmaison. But her acclimatisation in the South of France only dates back about 150 years. Since the end of the 19th century, the mimosa has been the symbol of the French Riviera. 

This flower is mainly cultivated in the south of France, India, Egypt and Morocco. In perfumery, the mimosa is treated by extraction with volatile solvents to obtain an absolute. However, it is also possible to treat the concrete (the first product resulting from the extraction) by molecular distillation to obtain a molecular distillation absolute, which is different in smell and almost colourless.

Mimosa offers a green, powdery, honeyed and almondy floral note to the fragrances. It also has a fairly pronounced green facet (close to that of the violet leaf) because its leaves are distilled at the same time as the yellow balls. This is why, in the mimosa note, vegetal scents reminiscent of cucumber or even melon are perceptible. 

Here is a non-exhaustive list of perfumes with a very marked mimosa note:

  • Un soliflore L'Artisan Parfumeur 
  • Mimosa Pour Moi
  • Champs Elysées Guerlain
  • Summer Kenzo
  • Farnesiana Caron 
  • Beige extrait Chanel 

 

Some anecdotes about mimosa 

  • Etymology: its name comes from the Latin mimus, which means "stuffing", because some leaves retract as soon as you touch them, like a reflex.
  • It is said that if the mimosa blooms in winter on the French Riviera, it is because it has kept in memory its flowering period in Australia. 
  • Two qualities are used by perfumers: acacia Dealbata and acacia Farnésina. 
  • In Spain, the mimosa symbolises reunion.
  • Since 1946, the mimosa has been the emblem of Women's Day, on the 8th of March.
  • The mimosa flower is offered on grandmothers' day, Marcel Pagnol used to say: "Grandmothers' day is like mimosa: it is sweet and it is fresh, but it is fragile".
  • Mimosa is edible: mimosa balls are reconstituted in sugar and flavoured. However, it is not possible to crystallise the flowers directly, because the flower is too fluffy.
  • There is a mimosa syrup that can accompany a glass of champagne with delight.

 

Cassie in the powdery facet

The cassia is a flower from the same family as mimosas (the acacia family). However, its branches have thorns. Like mimosa, it is a rather difficult flower to work with in perfumery. As for its smell, it is denser, more mysterious, with animal notes close to those of ylang-ylang, and has sulphur effects and aldehydic accents.

Among the cassia fragrances are :

  • Cassie in Après L'Ondée 
  • Cassie flowers by Frédéric Malle with 4% absolute cassia

 

Synthetic products in the powdery facet

  • The violet

According to legend, Zeus, who was in love with Io at the time, commissioned the Earth to create the most beautiful flower in his honour: the violet.
Napoleon loved this flower and was sometimes nicknamed "Corporal Violet". It then became the emblem of Napoleon's imperial party.
In England, its scent was most popular during the Victorian era. Virtuous, violets are often associated with simplicity and modesty. 

However, the violet does not give off its perfume (it is a "silent" flower). It is therefore methylionone and ionone molecules that enable it to be reconstituted. The violet was called "Iov" or "Ion" in ancient Greek, hence the name "ionone", which refers to a chemical compound.

  • The methylionone 

The first ionone was discovered in 1890. Ionones enabled perfumers to reproduce the scent of violet flowers as faithfully as possible. There are also the "alpha", "beta" and "violet note" ionones, which are more complicated to use than the Methylionones.

This note is floral, powdery, close to raspberry, and even woody.

The Ionones and Methionones combine wonderfully with even more iridescent notes, such as natural or synthetic irones, or iris absolute notes.

Après l'Ondée by Guerlai was one of the first perfumes contained these molecules, followed by l'Heure Bleue, Météorites, Vol de Nuit, Insolence, Florentina by Sylvaine Delacourte.

 

We can also mention:

  • Origan Coty - 1905 
  • Heure Bleue Guerlain - 1912
  • La Violette de Toulouse Berdoues - 1936
  • Violetta di Parma Borsari - 1970
  • Detchema Revillon - 1953
  • Lagerfeld Karl Lagerfeld (masculin) - 1978
  • Paris YSL - 1983
  • Eternity Calvin Klein - 1988
  • Trésor Lancôme - 1990
  • Tocade Rochas - 1994 
  • Iris Silver mist Serge Lutens - 1994
  • Aimez Moi Caron - 1996
  • Flower Kenzo - 2000
  • Verte Violette Artisan Parfumeur - 2001
  • Lolita Lempicka - 2004
  • Insolence Guerlain - 2006 
  • Misia Chanel - 2015
  • Florentina Sylvaine Delacourte - 2016

 

  • The natural heliotrope

The scent of heliotrope, found in some nurseries, is between powder, vanilla and almond. It is a delicious aroma, absolutely essential.

  • The heliotropin 

It did not deliver its perfume, but fortunately the scent was discovered in 1869 by Fittig and Mielk. This raw material is synthetic but can also be obtained from Tahitensis vanilla. It is a floral, almond note between mimosa, heliotrope and lilac.

Here again, this scent is present in Après L'ondée, Heure Bleue, Insolence, by Guerlain and Florentina Sylvaine Delacourte.

  • Musky notes, or white musks 

These molecules, like Muscenone, give off a very enveloping powdery note with a cashmere effect.

Collection Muscs by Sylvaine Delacourte with 5 different musky fragrances :

Discover them thanks to the Discovery Boxes.

 

Conclusion 

The powdery notes bring softness and tenderness to the fragrances and are very enveloping, like cashmere. They can be modern (in the form of musks) or more traditional, reminiscent of rice powder or women's boudoirs.